UFC 204 Prelims Bring Lowest Ratings In Over A Year
The UFC 204 prelims did not draw very well, to say the least. The prelims were only watched by 678,000 viewers, which is the lowest number for a PPV prelims show on FS1 since UFC 191, which did 663,000 viewers in September 2015. While not always a good indicator but if a PPV prelim show doesn’t draw a ton of viewers, then the PPV buyrates are usually low. UFC 191 drew 115,000 buys.
UFC 204 took place on Saturday, October 8 in Manchester, England. The UFC Fight Pass prelims started at 6:30PM/3:30PM ETPT with two bouts while the FOX Sports 1 prelims aired at 8PM/5PM ETPT with four bouts. The main card (PPV) aired at 10PM/7PM ETPT with four bouts. Iuri Alcantara vs. Brad Pickett, Davey Grant vs. Damian Stasiak, Leon Edwards vs. Albert Tumenov, and Marc Diakiese vs. Lukasz Sajewski were featured on the FS1 prelims.
The viewership number for the UFC 204 prelims were down compared to the UFC 203 prelims, which did 870,000 viewers. The average viewership number for PPV prelims on FS1 is 1,104,000 viewers.
The event went up against stiff competition as the show went up against the Alabama – Arkansas game on ESPN did 4,444 million viewers as well as the MLB playoff game between the Giants and Cubs, which did 4,605 million viewers on the MLB Network.
Following a lengthy string of weekly events, the UFC is taking some time off and will not hold another event until the November 5th TUF Latin America season three finale in Mexico City on November 5th, which is headlined by former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos taking on Tony Ferguson.
